National Symposium on Community Scale Broadband Infrastructure

admin — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:14:47 +0000

The Center for Social Inclusion (CSI) and the Center for Technology Innovation and Community Engagement (CTICE) invite you to participate in a National Symposium on Community Scale Broadband Infrastructure. We hope you’ll be able to join us for “Advancing Community Broadband: Transforming Community Economics through Broadband Technologies”, which will take place on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 in Washington, D.C. at Capitol Hill’s Longworth Building; room #1302. The meeting will take place from 12-4 p.m., and a light lunch will be served.

About the event:

Advancing Community Broadband: Transforming Community Economics Through Broadband

This symposium will convene of an interdisciplinary group of nationally recognized scholars, practitioners and policy advocates to discuss strategies for re-envisioning the frames driving our national policy discourses on broadband. Our aim is to create a more inclusive conversation that takes us beyond the focus on adoption and access to thinking more critically about the role that Internet Communications Technologies (ICTs) such as broadband must have in securing a more equitable and sustainable development across communities and regions. In particular our emphasis is on the role that community scale infrastructures can have in recentering often marginalized communities from being siloed as the last mile/last inch of infrastructure roll out. Our goal is to shift frame through connectivity strateties that can empower comunities to become sites of “first mile” build up through community scale models. Research has shown that community scale infrastructure is more cost effective to build out and lowers the cost of sustaining connectivity at the community level.

The symposium will be organized into two moderated panel discussions designed to 1.) establish the framing around community scale infrastructure and 2.) present innovative modes and ideas being put in practice by scholars and community practitioners at various scales across the country. The term, “Community Scale Broadband” implies two meanings that we will highlight throughout the symposium; 1.) models of broadband infrastructure deployment and internet service provision that are locally owned either by cooperative, municipality or small business owner; affordable and accountable to those who utilize it; and 2.) that communities be empowered to make creative choices on how broadband infrastructure deployment and service provision can best serve their social and economic development needs.

Symposium Agenda

Opening Luncheon Introduction - 1145am- 130pm
Maya Wiley - Center for Social Inclusion - Introduction
Speakers: Melissa Bradley - CEO Tides Foundation;

130 - 230pm Panel I – Framing the discussion on Community Scale Broadband

1. Bruce Lincoln – Center for Technology Innovation and Community Engagement, Columbia University
2. Jabari Simama - Dekalb County Community Development Group
3. Sascha Meinrath – New America Foundation Open Technology Initiative
4. Nolan Bowie – Harvard Kennedy School
5. Cecilia Garcia - Benton Foundation

230 - 330pm Panel II – Community Scale Broadband Models and Strategy

1. Craig Settles - Successful
2. Todd Wolfson – Media Mobilizing Project
3. Plinio Ayala – Per Schola
4. Jacquie Jones - National Black Programming Consortium
5. Joanne Hovis – NATOA Community Broadband Committee

330 - 400pm Closing

Fourth Law and Information Society Symposium: Hate Versus Democracy on the Internet

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:09:37 +0000

From political blogs to the exposure of rights abuses, the Internet advances communication and the free flow of information that is at the heart of democracy. Yet, from Holocaust deniers to terrorist organizers, the Internet also serves as an enabler for extremists promoting hate, violence and the corrosion of democratic values. This conference will explore the legal and policy dimensions of the Internet’s dual impact.

8:30 – 9:00 Registration and Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 Welcome

9:15 – 10:45

Panel 1: The Internet as a Dual Use Technology: Democracy and Extremism

This panel will examine the Internet’s dual impact on democracy and extremism. Panel members will explore how social networks, blogs and websites have been used simultaneously to spread democracy and promote hate. They will discuss the tensions that arise on the Internet between these competing interests.

Moderator: Zephyr Teachout, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham Law School

Panelists:
• Bruce Etling, Director of the Internet & Democracy Project, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University
• Holly Hawkins, Director of Consumer Advocacy and Privacy, AOL
• Alexander Tsesis, Assistant Professor of Law, Loyola University School of Law
• Mark Weitzman, Director of Task Force on Hate & Terrorism, Simon Wiesenthal Center

10:45 – 11:00 Break

11:00 – 12:30

Panel 2: Distinguishing Hate Speech from Legitimate Political Expression

This panel will explore how we distinguish hate speech from legitimate political expression and whether such a line can be drawn. Panel members will consider what characteristics make hate speech dangerous and different from democratic political debate. The panel will consider specific examples of online “hate sites” and other ways that the Internet has been used to spread extremist thought.

Moderator: Ann Bartow, Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law

Panelists:
• David E. Bernstein, Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
• Steven J. Heyman, Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law
• Kenneth Lasson, Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law
• Nicole Wong, Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Google, Inc.

12:30 – 2:00 Lunch and Keynote Address
Jing Zhao (aka Michael Anti)
Political Columnist and Blogger
Harvard Nieman Fellow

2:00 – 3:30

Panel 3: Online Hate Speech and Diverse International Concerns

This panel will explore the competing cultural concerns about hate speech that make international regulation challenging. Panel members will consider how the definition of hate speech and norms about regulation differ internationally.

Moderator: Julie Suk, Associate Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Panelists:
• Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Professor, Chair in Politics, University of Hull
• Sandra Coliver, Senior Legal Officer, Open Society Justice Initiative
• Peter Molnar, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Media and Communications Studies, Central European University
• Philippe A. Schmidt, Lawyer SBKG law firm, Chairman of the International Network Against Cyber Hate and Vice President of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) in charge of International Affairs

3:30 – 3:45 Break

3:45 – 5:15

Panel 4: How to Combat Hate Speech While Promoting Democracy

This panel will explore various ways that we can combat or prevent hate speech online while still allowing robust democratic expression. Panel members will consider regulatory and non-regulatory options and will discuss which methods best serve the dual goals of promoting democracy and tolerance.

Moderator: Joel R. Reidenberg, Professor of Law and Academic Director of the Center on Law & Information Policy, Fordham Law School

Panelists:
• Yaman Akdeniz, Associate Professor, Human Rights Law Research Center, Istanbul Bilgi University & Director, Cyber-Rights.Org
• Susan Benesch, Senior Fellow, World Policy Institute
• Danielle Citron, Professor of Law, University of Maryland School of Law
• Philippe Dufresne, Director & Senior Counsel, Canadian Human Rights Commission

The conference is free and open to the public. 6 Non-Transitional, Professional Practice NYS CLE Credits are available for $90 ($50 for Fordham Law alumni & public interest attorneys). If you desire CLE credit please register online and complete and submit a copy of the PDF registration form provided below as instructed.

Fordham Law School has a financial hardship policy for the conference. For additional information please visit: http://law.fordham.edu/cle.

Transmission Project - symposium

National Symposium on Community Scale Broadband Infrastructure

Fourth Law and Information Society Symposium: Hate Versus Democracy on the Internet